SOUTHERN LIGHTS: Beach Boys, Medallions served up some good fun

Sunday

Oct 27, 2013 at 12:01 AM

It was an inspired combination, for those who care about such things: a pair of ghost bands, as a prelude to Halloween, in the Druid City.Well, not entirely. Ghost band is a term used in the entertainment industry mostly to describe a group that still performs the music associated with its name, even though the original members are gone. Both the Swingin’ Medallions and the Beach Boys Band, which shared a double bill a few days ago at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater, have an original member.

Ben Windham Retired editor | The Tuscaloosa News

It was an inspired combination, for those who care about such things: a pair of ghost bands, as a prelude to Halloween, in the Druid City.Well, not entirely.Ghost band is a term used in the entertainment industry mostly to describe a group that still performs the music associated with its name, even though the original members are gone. Both the Swingin’ Medallions and the Beach Boys Band, which shared a double bill a few days ago at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater, have an original member.They also share some other traits. The Medallions specialize in “beach music” while the Beach Boys got their start in “surf music.” Neither group has had a chart hit for a long time. As Beach Boys Band leader (and sole original member) Mike Love somewhat uncharitably put it, what the Tuscaloosa audience got was “two used bands.”Both groups got their real start in the 1960s and it’s ’60s music that their fans now mostly expect. Though radically altered from their prime years, neither band disappointed, churning out hit after well-played hit.The Medallions’ music is almost antique. Built on black soul, it once was ubiquitous throughout this region.Today, unless you live near the shores of South Carolina, you seldom hear it. It’s like those madras pants the band members wore on the cover of their album. Gone with the wind.In the 1960s, though, The Swingin’ Medallions were the coolest band around. They played every frat party and teen-age wasteland between Myrtle Beach and Panama City. And beyond.Theirs was a horn-driven music, where the guitar played a rhythmic role; a music of group vocals, of good-time lyrics. No acid, no moping, no introspection. Lotta alcohol. Party, party, party.They put on a show, stealing steps from black bands and throwing in a few of their own. Long hair? Let the Beatles have it. Guitar solos? Give ’em to The Yardbirds. The Medallions had madras, short hair and horns. Some of them even wore glasses. They were Southern, they were cool and they were us.They were worshiped, adored.They played all the time at Birmingham’s Oporto Armory. According to legend, a deejay taped one of their shows there and played his bootleg of “Double Shot (of My Baby’s Love)” on the air repeatedly, prompting the band to go into a studio and record its smash in 1966.The record competed a little with a version of the song by The K-Otics from Troy, but the Alabama recording — which was heavily guitar-based — quickly sank from sight. The Swingin’ Medallions, meanwhile, followed up with “She Drives Me Out of My Mind,” a tremendous studio recording in the “live” style of “Double Shot.”Then it was their turn to sink from sight.Reconstituted, the band includes drums, bass, keyboards, guitar, trumpet, two tenor saxes and a baritone saxophone. And white chinos.Right in the middle at the amphitheater was Jimmy Perkins, who played bass on the Medallions’ madras album.The rest of the guys looked like they weren’t even born when the band was in its heyday.Still, they did an infectuously joyful set in Tuscaloosa. They played “Hey, Baby!” (a small “beach music” hit for the band), their two 1960s chart successes, The Temptations’ “Get Ready,” J.J. Jackson’s “It’s All Right” and that anthem of Myrtle Beach’s shaggers, “Carolina Girl.”“Double Shot” has proved to be a surprisingly durable success. Bruce Springsteen has included it in his repertoire, the Residents have waxed it, and it has almost achieved the status of “Louie, Louie.” It’s just a better song.And another Beach Boys connection:“Double Shot” has the line, “Woke up this morning/my head was so bad ...”And “Help Me, Rhonda,” by The Beach Boys, opens with the line, “Well since she put me down/ I been out doin’ in my head ...”Great stuff! For writing that line alone, as he claimed he did in a successful 1992 lawsuit against group co-founder Brian Wilson, Love would be lauded. Yet he did so much more.According to his lawsuit, he was chief lyricist on singles like “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls” and “Fun, Fun, Fun.” When Brian quit performing and recording with the group, Love co-wrote the hit “Kokomo” (and with pink-bikinied model Jackie Rodriguez made a smashing video of it).He supports the environment, backs charities, helps schools. And that’s just the tip of it.The trouble is, Mike Love has two sides.He started off with the crack about “two used bands.” Later, he recalled the famous 1964 battle in Birmingham which pitted the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones in Legion Field.The Stones hadn’t found out about showers then, he joked. Still, their music was pretty good, but Love said he knew how to carry the day in Alabama: He quoted George C. Wallace.That drew only a smattering of appreciation in Tuscaloosa.After that, Love pretty much shut up. Good thing, too. His ego-tripping boasts are well-known throughout the music industry. One blogger claims John Lennon once called Love a jerk.After the Beach Boys — the remnants of the original band, with longtime members Love, Brian Wilson, David Marks, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston got together in 2012 for a fine album and a triumphant 50th reunion tour, it looked like the band was back in business.Dennis Wilson, the original group’s drummer, drowned in 1983 and his younger brother Carl Wilson died of cancer in 1998. Brian, the eldest of the three Wilson brothers, was brain- and art-damaged but he still composes wonderful tunes and sings beautifully. He thought the 2012 reunion was the start of something big.But Love said no.He left Brian, Marks and Jardine out of his touring band this year, opting instead for Johnston, drummer John Cowsill, guitarist Christian Love, bass player Randell Kirsch, keyboardist Tim Bonhomme and guitarist Scott Totten.Left holding the bag, Brian sounded astonished.“What’s confusing is that by Mike not wanting or letting Al, David and me tour with the band, it sort of feels like we’re being fired. ... After Mike booked a couple of shows with Bruce, Al and I were, of course, disappointed. ... I was completely blindsided by his press release. ... We hadn’t even discussed as a band what we were going to do with all the offers that were coming in for more 50th shows.”You can’t “fire” Brian from the Beach Boys, Love retorted. It’s just a “limited run” tour anyway, he said.Love holds the legal rights to the Beach Boys name, so he can call the shots any way he wants to. Yet I’d be surprised if he and Brian ever get back together.At the amphitheater, there was a kind of obligatory tribute to Carl, who kept playing with the band long after Brian left it, with lots of photos of the deceased Beach Boy on the big screen. There were also a lot of pictures of Love, but very, very few of Brian.It was nice, I guess, but it sort of upset me. How you can call a band the Beach Boys without at least one of the Wilson brothers seems more a sacrilege than a mystery.But then, who cares? And who wants it?The band was good, mostly. Johnston may not have been up to snuff; his singing wasn’t impressive and he didn’t do his best song, “Disney Girls.” Love sounded just like he did 50 years ago and the band did most of the old hits: “Surfer Girl,” “Good Vibrations,” “409,” “I Get Around,” “Sloop John B,” “Barbara Ann,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” Kirsch sang a lot of the high parts — not like Brian, but good enough. The harmonies were good. People were throwing beach balls around. It was fun.Maybe it was telling that the band’s best song — “Wild Honey,” for which Love claimed lyrical honors — was sung by drummer Cowsill, who shone on almost every number.No, it wasn’t the original Swingin’ Medallions. And despite the name, it certainly wasn’t the Beach Boys.But it was fun.Besides, they say Love has mellowed a bit. You can’t totally dislike someone who calls a solo album “Mike Love, Not War.”

Ben Windham is retired editorial editor of The Tuscaloosa News. His email address is Swind15443@aol.com.

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